'The answers are not easy' | Pickleball concerns brought up to Falls Church City Council

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Pickleball continues to grow as a sport, but complaints are growing with it. 

The city of Falls Church is the latest northern Virginia community to have issues about pickleball brought to their attention. During Monday night's Falls Church City Council meeting, Charley O'Hara addressed the council during the public comment period.

"At our last meeting in June, an issue was brought to the board's attention that is, potential conflicts involving pickleball," he explained.

In 2022, Falls Church had no courts that were striped for pickleball. They could play, but they had to play on a court that was only striped for tennis.

Since then, O'Hara says they've striped several courts for pickleball use as well, including:

He told the council members that the department has also provided pickleball facilities for seniors and drop-in facilities for the general public. However, at their last meeting, he says they received a number of complaints.

"Recently there have been complaints for several things, one is noise. If you've ever been around a pickleball court. It is a whack. It is a whack and then it is a whack and another whack and it goes on," said O'Hara.

In addition to the noise, some residents are worried about the attitude of some pickleball players against those who wish to use the courts for tennis. 

"There have also been complaints regarding dominance of the 'pickleballers' over the tennis players and the tennis players can't get on the court, get the pickleball players on the court with enough time to play," he said.

Lastly, O'Hara claimed some groups are using social media to reserve courts and then advertise the reservation. 

"The third thing to come up relatively recently is the use of social media groups on our pickleball courts. There are groups out there reserving the pickleball courts, through our process which is an online registration. Then advertising to their social network, 'Hey, first 24 people who want to come play can come play.' So that's creating issues, that our own residents now. Social media isn't limited to just residences, and now our local people aren't able to get on the courts," said O'Hara.

He told the council that Falls Church is not the first to have this issue, citing Arlington, Fairfax, and Vienna.

"Most have gone to limitations on the distance between a pickleball court and a residence. We really can't do that. Nearly all of our courts are near residences except for Meridian which is a shared facility," said O'Hara.

He told the council, "I just wanted to bring this to your attention because this is gonna come up when we meet again in September."

The Recreations Department has been dealing with issues from pickleball players, particularly the players not stopping when the rules dictate they do. 

"At Cherry Street, they've limited the hours to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., from dusk to dawn," O'Hara said. "The problem is the pickleball community is not working with the citizens of the city. In that, they won't stop playing at 8."

He says they aren't abiding by the rules.

"Some are parking their cars in the parking lot at Cherry Street and flashing their lights on the court, where there are no lights, and playing," O'Hara said. 

He says the recreation department will continue working with the players and neighbors.

"The answers are not easy," he explained.

"Fairfax County tried to take one pickleball court away and protestors chained themselves to the fence. This is not an issue that's going to go away easily," said O'Hara.

They're not the first community to find themselves in a pickle over pickleball in recent months.

O'Hara told the council Monday night, "what I wanted to do is make you aware of the issue so that you don't hear it for the first time when it's already reached that level."

Mayor Letty Hardi thanked him. 

"I would love for actually the rec and parks board to take this up and make some recommendations before it becomes a problem. I appreciate you alerting us to these concerns. Perhaps in your September board meeting this would be a great topic to talk through other options and how other communities have dealt with this and come back to us with a recommendation this fall," said Hardi.

He said they will, but that this will likely take a little give and take from everyone.

Tuesday night, WUSA9 spoke to some of the neighbors who live near the courts along North Cherry Street.

"It's nice to hear everybody having fun. But sometimes the pickleball can be a little bit much especially in the evenings when it gets dark and people don't get off it can be quite noisy," explained Molly and Annie who live very close by.

"We live pretty close to the courts and I know they're being used, but I don't find it obtrusive," explained Michael McDonald, another neighbor.

WUSA9 also caught up with some pickleball players who were playing on the courts along North Cherry Street.

"I started playing pickleball about two years ago to get off the couch and get away from Amazon Prime," said Michael Borgman, who organized Tuesday night's gathering of pickleball players.

WUSA9 asked him if any of the neighbors have expressed any concerns to him or the other players.

"I haven't heard any complaints from anyone to tell you the truth," said Borgman.

As for concerns about social media posts drawing in players from outside Falls Church, and preventing locals from playing, Borgman said that's not exactly true.

"I think that's a PR problem. In Falls Church, PR is important. The social aspect of living in the city is important. It's a small town mentality, they don't like outsiders. But, that's not what America is about," he told WUSA9.

He and the others on the court shared that pickleball brings people together, and that their goal isn't to divide their community.

"It's fun, it's social. If you come to some of our games in our meet-ups it looks like United Nations. There are so many people from different backgrounds. They're at different levels of pickleball. Everyone's super friendly and you can meet a lot of your neighbors," said Marianne Helms

She told WUSA9 she's been playing on courts all over Northern Virginia for four years.

"I have never in four years seen any instances of bullying or bad behavior that was rumored to be happening," said Helms.

To those complaining, her advice, "chill out, chill out," she said laughing. "Get some ear plugs or come out and play some pickleball!"